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Who's Who - Tsar Nicholas II

Tsar Nicholas II (1868-1918) - Russia's
last emperor - was born on 18 May 1868 in Tsarskoe Selo.

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Nicholas succeeded his
father's throne, Alexander III, when the later died from liver disease on 20
October 1894. Nicholas was 26.

That same year Nicholas
married Princess Alexandra of Hesse-Darmstadt, the grand-daughter of Queen
Victoria. Alexandra was instrumental in convincing Nicholas to resist
ever-growing calls for increased democracy within Russia. Alexandra
was a firm believer in the autocratic principle. Nicholas required
little persuasion: as a nationalist he decried those who favoured western
style democracy.

Alexandra was unpopular
with the Russian elite, more so as evidence emerged of her increasing
influence over her husband. Her reliance upon
Grigory Rasputin in
determining Russian policy angered many, ultimately leading to Rasputin's
assassination.

Defeat in the war with
Japan of 1904-5 seriously damaged Russian prestige - and with it the esteem
of the monarchy. Japan had launched a surprise attack on the Russian
fleet based at Port Arthur; throughout the war the Russian navy was found
wanting, although the army fared better in repulsing Japanese troops in
Manchuria.

At the same time as Russia
faced war with Japan, there was increasing industrial unrest at home.
Workers who faced long hours and poor conditions increasingly formed
protests.

In 1904 110,000 workers in
St Petersburg striked for four days in protest at the declining value of
wages in real terms. Georgi Gapon, of the Assembly of Russian Workers,
appealed to Nicholas for help in reducing working hours and improving pay
and conditions. A consequent march on the Winter Palace was greeted by
armed Cossacks: over 100 protestors were killed and many more wounded.

'Bloody Sunday', as it
became known, sparked the 1905 Revolution, whereby strikes spread around the
country and mutiny throughout the army and navy. Leon Trotsky founded
the St Petersburg Soviet in October, with 50 more being established over the
next month in the rest of the country.

In response to such
wide-scale protest, and under the advice of close advisers, the Tsar
published the 'October Manifesto', which granted freedom of conscience,
speech, meeting and association, and the end of imprisonment without trial.
In addition, no new law would become effective without the approval of the
Duma, a consultative body.

The October Manifesto did
not satisfy Trotsky (who with his supporters was subsequently arrested for
his actions taken in protest) but did take the sting out of the crisis that
had formed.

Although the Duma had been
viewed as a toothless advisory body, at its first meeting in May 1906 it
made demands for the release of political prisoners, for trade union rights
and land reform. In rejecting these demands Nicholas promptly
dissolved the Duma.

Later that year Nicholas
replaced the moderate chief minister Sergi Witte with the more conservative
Peter Stolypin. Stolypin attempted to balance the demands of both
liberal and conservative factions in the country. He was ultimately
unsuccessful: he was assassinated in 1911 by a member of the Socialist
Revolutionary Party at the Kiev Opera House.

With Germany's decision to
enter into the Triple Alliance system with Austria-Hungary and
Italy - whereby each of the three nations agreed to come to the other's aid
in the event of attack by either France or Russia - Russia naturally saw
Germany as its main potential enemy; this despite Nicholas's position as the
cousin of German Kaiser Wilhelm II.

Consequently Russia entered
into an alliance with Britain and France, the 'Triple Entente'. When
war was declared by Germany with France in August 1914, Russia came into the
war on France's side.

Russian industrial unrest
had continued into the first half of 1914. Up to half of the
entire workforce are estimated to have striked that year. The war
temporarily brought an effective end to industrial unrest however, although
it later returned. The war also brought Nicholas political benefits;
the establishment united behind him in the conduct of the war.

Dissatisfied with the
army's conduct of the war,
Nicholas took personal command in September 1915.
The Russian army were fighting on the Eastern Front and its ongoing lack of
success was causing dissension at home. Unfortunately, now operating
under Nicholas II's supreme command, its continued failure reflected
directly upon the Tsar himself rather than the army command.
Nicholas's popularity dwindled.

By late 1916 royalists
within the Duma warned the Tsar that revolution was imminent; even so,
Nicholas refused to sanction further constitutional reform. During the
so-called 'February Revolution' in 1917, which he misinterpreted as a minor
uprising, his routine suppression orders to the Petrograd garrison sparked
its mutiny on 10 March.

Nicholas II was persuaded
to
abdicate on 15
March 1917 under the recommendation of the Russian Army
High Command. In search of exile elsewhere,
Lloyd George offered a
haven in Britain, only for the offer to be withdrawn under the direction of
King George V, who did not wish to be associated with his autocratic cousin
at this point: a controversial decision.

Moved to the Siberian city
of Ekaterinburg by the Bolsheviks, Nicholas and his family were executed on
the night of 16/17 July 1918.

Click
here to view footage of the Tsar and Tsarina filmed prior to the
outbreak of war in 1914;
click here to view the Tsar's imperial declaration of war in St.
Petersburg.

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Saturday, 22 August, 2009Michael Duffy

Stormtroopers comprised specially trained German assault troops used in 1918.